No Foil Baby Back Ribs Fail - Need Tips and Technique

[Cajun Ty]

My setup is d-plates, foil pan on top them and feet down on main grate then ext racks, Cook for 2 hrs at 225-250 then spritz every hour after till they pass bend test. I used to get charred bottom but the raised ext rack solved that problem. Are you running full load or just half the fire box?

[5698k]

I'm full load.

[wilburpan]

i've been reading up on no foil and memphis style ribs. the one thing that i keep seeing is mopping the ribs every 30 or 60 minutes. i have the impression that for kamado cooking closer to 60 minutes is fine, ymmv. it sounds like people leave the ribs alone for the first 60-90 minutes and then mop for the remainder of the cook.

My understanding that for Memphis ribs, one of the things that makes them unique is the repetitive basting with vinegar or a vinegar based marinade during the cook. Part of the flavor comes from the vinegar, and it’s the multiple applications of the vinegar that leads to their flavor. That’s different from just cooking ribs dry, without spritzing or saucing.

 

It may be true that cooking in a kamado means that the interior of the grill means that you don’t have to spritz, baste, or sauce to get moist ribs. But if/when I try a Memphis style rib cook, I’m going to apply the vinegar as the recipe states. If the recipe calls for mopping every 30 minutes, and I do it every 60 minutes instead, I’ll be missing half the flavor from the vinegar.

[S60]

My setup is d-plates, foil pan on top them and feet down on main grate then ext racks, Cook for 2 hrs at 225-250 then spritz every hour after till they pass bend test. I used to get charred bottom but the raised ext rack solved that problem. Are you running full load or just half the fire box?

 

So I had the same setup as you on the same grill.  My ribs were cooked with the firebox about 1/2 to 2/3 full, essentially what was left from a full fire box from a cook the day before.

[Cajun Ty]

My setup is d-plates, foil pan on top them and feet down on main grate then ext racks, Cook for 2 hrs at 225-250 then spritz every hour after till they pass bend test. I used to get charred bottom but the raised ext rack solved that problem. Are you running full load or just half the fire box?

 

So I had the same setup as you on the same grill.  My ribs were cooked with the firebox about 1/2 to 2/3 full, essentially what was left from a full fire box from a cook the day before.

Yes sir, and I'm scratching my head to why yours charred on the raised rack, most of the time i use just half the firebox with the splitter in idk if that would make a difference. Other thing may be i start spritzing after 2 hours other than that i'm lost.

[S60]

 

Yes sir, and I'm scratching my head to why yours charred on the raised rack,

 

 

Just to be clear, they did not char.  The meat exposed on the botton side, that is the meat between the bones, became hard and crispy but it was not black (my wife called it "like bacon" as a result of my overseasoning), while the meat on top was properly cooked. 

[5698k]

Does your rub have a lot of sugar? Could it be nothing more than too much seasoning?

[S60]

Does your rub have a lot of sugar? Could it be nothing more than too much seasoning?

The rub was basically half sugar have salt, with a little bit of garlic and a little bit of paprika. There was definitely too much salt, but I'm not sure that there was too much sugar, as a lot of rubs have more sugar than I used but less salt. It could be that the excessive amount of salt resulted in extracting moisture which caused the meat to turn hard and brittle.